


We're Home

by silveryink



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang is a cinnamon roll, Fluff, Gaang (Avatar), Gaang (Avatar) as Family, Gen, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet, Theater kid zuko, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, suki only makes a minor appearance rip but i love her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24572107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveryink/pseuds/silveryink
Summary: Things have changed, but not much. Zuko and Iroh are grateful for their bond, especially now when the quiet moments matter the most.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 421





	We're Home

The coronation turns out to be far better than Zuko expected, all things considered. He’s been worried about the reaction from the Fire Nation citizens, mostly because they would all have known him as a traitor ever since his stunt during the eclipse and deserting his father to join the Avatar. The Wanted posters were bad enough, not to mention all the Fire Nation propaganda (case in point: that stupid play they watched at Ember Island).

His worries, in the end, don’t amount to anything, for he steps out into a wave of cheers from the audience. There are troops of Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and Water Tribe soldiers (the fourth is apparently a group of _swamp benders_ , just when Zuko thinks nothing could surprise him any more) among the crowd of elated citizens and grumpy nobles. He blushes at the attention and lifts a hand to call for silence.

“Please. The _real_ hero is the Avatar.” He steps aside and lets Aang stride to the center of the pavilion proudly.

Another wave of cheers, this time with Zuko joining in with the applause, before one of the Fire Sages clears his throat pointedly. Zuko takes this as his sign to kneel with his head bowed so that the Sages can announce his position officially and offer him the crown. The headpiece isn’t all that heavy, but Zuko knows that the responsibility it carries would compensate for the weight.

“All hail Fire Lord Zuko!”

Zuko stands and grins, silently reveling in the applause. He’s quite unused to the attention, so a part of him is giddy at the acceptance from not only his people, but representatives from the rest of the world too. Still, his gaze scans the crowd for his uncle, whose opinion matters the most, out of all the rest. His heart soars when he finds Iroh in the crowd, beaming at him and clapping wildly. He turns to Aang and nods towards the crowd, already descending to join them.

The light-footed airbender hops down the stairs eagerly, and, in a completely unexpected move that Zuko should have predicted, leaps onto his back once he’s safely made it down the stairs. The cheers falter when he staggers forward, but continue when they see his amused expression. He strains to look at Aang, raising an eyebrow when their eyes meet. The Avatar rubs his neck and grins sheepishly. “Sorry, Zuko.”

“That’s Fire Lord to you.”

“Sorry, Sifu Fire Lord.”

Zuko bursts out laughing and almost doubles over, leaving Aang floundering as he tries to regain his balance. Remembering that the fate of the Avatar is on his shoulders, he straightens. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” The formal arrangement of the troops breaks into clusters, and Zuko can feel Aang fiddling with his headpiece as he walks towards their friends. He swats his hand away.

“Hey!”

“Stop playing with that, it’s an heirloom!”

“ _I’m_ an heirloom!”

Zuko blinks. That is absurdly, technically true. Aang scrambles to his feet, using Zuko’s head for leverage (much to his chagrin), and flips off his shoulders onto the ground before him. The two of them grin at each other, and just then, Toph decides to affectionately punch Zuko in the shoulder.

“Way to go, Sparky.”

“Yeah, buddy, that was great!” Sokka bounds up to him and claps his shoulder cheerfully, Suki right behind him with a hug of her own. “So. What are the benefits that come with being the Fire Lord’s best friends?”

It isn’t the question that makes his breath stop for a moment, so much as the casual admission that they’re all _best friends_.

“Zuko? You okay there?”

“Yeah.” His voice is a little hoarse, but he turns the words in his mind and smiles. “I’m good.”

Sokka appears to understand, but otherwise doesn’t mention it. Zuko remembers him talking about how for the longest time, he hadn’t had any friends his age, something that really only changed with Zuko and Suki’s arrivals. At any rate, he's glad they're as close as they are.

“This doesn’t excuse you from answering my question,” Sokka bludgeons on. “I, for one, would like an overly large buffet with lots of options to choose from. Specifically, meat. All of it. All the types,” he clarifies, as though Zuko doesn’t know his preferences.

“I wouldn’t mind a giant statue of myself,” Toph pipes in, and then they’re all bickering over what gifts their newly-crowned-Fire-Lord-best-friend can offer them.

“Wait, we didn’t even ask what _Zuko_ wants,” Aang interrupts. “He’s the reason the war ended, he deserves nice things.”

They all fall silent and look at him expectantly. What _does_ he want? To restore the peace, of course. To help Aang bring the four elements and their respective nations back into harmony. Well – three nations. Hopefully he can offer some reparations for the massacre by the Fire Nation all those decades ago.

Then he looks at his friends, his _family_ , and thinks that such an answer wouldn’t be welcome here.

“Turtleducks,” he answers at last, a bit shyly. He’s only told his uncle about this before. “I used to feed them when I was a kid – my mom loved them too. Fath– _Ozai_ made me stop when she disappeared, and when I returned from Ba Sing Se they were all gone. I don’t know what happened to them.” _Nothing good, obviously._

His friends look sad, in that sympathetic and concerned way he’s come to associate with the few stories of his childhood he shared that seemed normal until they confirmed that it absolutely was _not_. Mostly, it’s Sokka and Katara, though Aang did contribute to the horrified ‘ _no, Zuko, that’s a terrible thing to happen to you’_ speech several times. He _does_ know that this in particular isn’t normal, of course – it was one of the first things to clue him in on why he’d felt so uncomfortable after being reinstated as crown prince. Then, Sokka perks up.

“Okay, so our first quest as your friends is to get you turtleducks. No – wait, I’m starving. You can get your turtleducks after the feast. There’s a feast, right? There’d better be.”

Zuko nods. “You guys head on inside, ask one of the guards or attendants to take you to the ballroom. I’m going to talk to Uncle for a bit.”

“Don’t be distracted by any of the nobles,” Katara warns. “You’re mostly healed, but I know that stress aggravates what’s left of the wound. And don’t think I didn’t notice you skipping breakfast this morning.”

“I didn’t skip breakfast,” he protests. “I just had a lighter one than normal. Besides, it’s _Uncle._ He’s as bad as you when it comes to fretting.”

She glares at him about the _fretting_ comment, but doesn’t contradict him. “I know. That’s why I haven’t dragged you back for another healing session.” With that, she marches away. Zuko knows that she wouldn’t hesitate to follow through on the threat, so picks up the pace as he makes way for Iroh.

The old veteran smiles at him. “Look at you,” he praises, and folds Zuko into a hug. He pulls back a moment later, holding him an arm’s length away. “You look so distinguished.”

“I spoke with the seamstresses about that, actually. They thought I might look old if I wore these robes all the time, so we decided to make a different version of what I wore when I was reinstated as crown prince.”

His uncle looks interested, and Zuko thinks he could shoot lightning into his foot. Of _course_ his uncle doesn’t know about his armour – he’d spent the duration of his return to the Fire Nation in the prisons. Iroh rests a hand on his shoulder, effectively cutting off his thoughts.

“I’d love to see the designs,” he says, and Zuko practically drags him towards the royal suite with minimal care about what it looks like to all the people gathered in the courtyard. He nods at the captain of his guard, who takes charge of dispersing the crowd, and Chief Hakoda, who returns the gesture warmly and goes right back to talking to one of the Earth Kingdom representatives.

“It’s a lighter design, with more finery than the set I had as crown prince. I’ll probably have to wear this for grand occasions like this, but we’re thinking of having other options that I can wear regularly without falling over.”

Iroh chuckles. “Your ceremonial robes _do_ look heavy,” he agrees. “Would you mind if I offered a few suggestions?”

Just like that, they slip into a conversation that’s easy and leaves Zuko feeling lighter than he has in years. He wishes he had been a better nephew before, one who hadn’t yelled at his uncle so much. Iroh doesn’t blame him at all - when he’d apologized in the tent, he’d told him that it was healthier for Zuko to take his anger out on someone than letting it fester within him.

The rest of the day passes reasonably well. That evening, long after his friends have returned to the residential suites, Zuko finishes rattling off the customary farewells to all the dignitaries who attended the festivities, and leaves the ballroom himself.

His uncle meets him in the hallway outside the Eastern Wing, and Zuko smiles despite his exhaustion. His feet are sore from the soulless dancing that is typical for these types of functions (thanks to all his partners who stepped on them) and he just wants to rest.

“They offered me the Fire Lord’s suite, but I didn’t want it,” Zuko says as he leads his uncle through the halls of their old home. He’d stayed with the other White Lotus members last night, so this is his first time in the residential wings of the palace in years. “I don’t really associate the space with anything _good_ anymore. So I took the East Residential Wing – which I know was meant for you and your family, but I knew you’d want to stay at Ba Sing Se – you _do_ have your own chambers there, of course, near mine, but that can change if you don’t like-”

“Breathe, nephew,” Iroh chuckles. “I don’t mind that you decided to occupy the East Wing. You deserve to make new memories here, _good_ ones.”

“Yeah,” Zuko says absently, blinking for a minute before he remembers which corridor to slip into. “I just wish Mom was here. And Lu Ten.”

Iroh is quiet for long enough that Zuko regrets bringing up his cousin. He opens his mouth to apologise, but a look from his uncle stops him.

“He’d be very proud of you,” Iroh murmurs. Zuko stops in his tracks as his breath hitches. He adored his cousin as a kid, even though Lu Ten was years older than him, and he misses him dearly even now. “So would your mother. And so am _I_ ,” he adds, looking Zuko directly in the eye.

His eyes well up, and he hugs his uncle again, tears streaming down his face. “I know,” he says against Iroh’s shoulder. The Fire Lord regalia makes this angle really uncomfortable, so he pulls away. “I’m sorry I didn’t realise it before, when I was too angry at everything and everyone – I guess I _did_ know even then, but...”

Nothing else needs to be said. He’s never been eloquent about his feelings, but his uncle knows him well.

“I’ll be here for as long as you need me,” Uncle says seriously after a long pause. Zuko expected this, but he doesn’t intend to keep his uncle away from the tea shop for any longer than he has to.

“Thank you,” he says instead. “Mostly, right now, you just need to pull me out of conversations when the ministers and other nobles throw their sons and daughters at me. They seem to forget that I just turned seventeen.”

“Absolutely not. You need more friends.” Uncle doesn’t let him reply, though he thinks his face must be red right now. “I believe you were going to show me my chambers, your new armour and share some tea with me?”

Zuko huffs, though there’s no real heat behind it. “I didn’t say a thing about tea, and you know it.”

They bicker good-naturedly and Zuko doesn’t protest when Uncle slings an arm around his shoulders. He only ever reacts like this when he’s in the company of people who make him feel safe, when he’s sure that his familiarity won’t be taken advantage of.

With Team Avatar and Uncle? He’s the safest person in the world.

* * *

Iroh barely blinks an eye when his nephew bursts into The Jasmine Dragon, yanking his headpiece from his topknot and letting his hair slip down around his face.

“You let it grow out,” he observes, pleased.

Zuko grins. It’s one of the small, pleased smiles Iroh never gets tired of seeing, because it’s rare that his nephew shows this side of himself to anyone and it’s gratifying to see him happy after years of anger and despair. But Zuko has changed – they _both_ have, for the better.

“Mom said it looks nice,” he says, and _she said I don’t look like Ozai_ goes unspoken. Iroh understands, naturally, and nods approvingly.

Zuko heads into the back room, swiftly unbuckling his Fire Lord regalia and pulling an apron off the shelf as he steps inside. The door clicks shut, and a minute later he’s in the shop uniform holding a notepad with a stick of charcoal behind his ear. His hair is tied messily at the base of his neck so that it doesn’t fall into his eyes. He looks a bit tired, probably due to the travelling and whatever meeting he attended before coming here, but happy.

It’s times like this when Iroh feels like all the trials his nephew has gone through were worth it, in the end. His nephew bustles around the tea shop, chatting with the customers about the latest production of _Love Amongst Dragons_.

“You’ve watched that play several times already, and know all the lines by heart. I’m surprised you haven’t tired of it by now,” Iroh comments, and Zuko looks aghast.

“How can you say something like that?” Zuko exclaims, and Iroh can feel a faint memory nagging at him that he can’t quite place. “It’s a classic, each interpretation has something new to offer!” Iroh suspects he’s just roped himself into watching the show with his nephew tomorrow, but he isn’t going to decline.

“How is Ursa adjusting to the palace?” he asks, instead of replying. Iroh remembers when they’d managed to track her down in Yu Dao, where she’d blended in with the rest of the colonists and remained undetected for years.

“She’s great,” Zuko says, allowing the change in topic. “Ikem makes her happy, we found him still at Hira’a – she’s making good memories in the palace. We still feed the turtleducks together,” he adds brightly.

The turtleducks were a gift of sorts, Iroh knows. The old family that lived there had been chased away about the time of Zuko’s banishment, or met a worse fate, but Sokka and Toph had managed to find a small family in need of a safe place to live, and surprised Zuko one morning in the early days of his rule. Iroh remembered the day well – Zuko had been babbling joyfully all morning after a night with next to no sleep, and he’d skipped the day’s meetings in favour of befriending the turtleducks. Iroh had been a little miffed to hear that they’d succeeded where he had not, but when he’d seen his nephew curled up and fast asleep under the shade of a tree with the little creatures nestling into him, it finally hit him that better days were ahead for them all.

“It’s lovely to hear,” he says sincerely.

“She’ll be here soon, to visit. I’m not sure when, but she wanted to see you again, and try some new blends in your shop.”

“Good to know that at least one person in the family has some regard for my tea-making skills,” Iroh laughs.

Zuko ducks his head and aggressively wipes down the countertop. His voice is small when he says, “I missed your tea too. No one in the palace makes it the way you do.”

Iroh sets down the cups and turns to face his nephew. Here, he isn’t the Fire Lord – he’s simply Zuko, nineteen and temporarily letting the weight of all the expectations people had for him slide off his shoulders. Here, he’s the hard-working employee of the best tea-maker in the city, known to be cordial and polite with customers and, to Iroh’s regulars, the infamous Nephew.

(It’s a miracle that no one noticed the scar yet.)

Iroh rests his hands on the counter behind him. “Do you remember what I said all those years ago, when we were working in Pao’s old tea house?”

“You said a lot of things back then, Uncle.” A pause. “‘ _The secret ingredient is love,_ ’” he quotes back.

Iroh smiles at his nephew and pushes himself away from the counter to rest his hands on Zuko’s shoulders. “Remember that, the next time you make tea for yourself and your family.”

Zuko doesn’t have the natural touch that some people do, but, as with most things, he’s a quick learner and has treated Iroh to his (thankfully improved) tea several times when they spent calm evenings together.

“Love is a part of all of us, and your love is strong.” It’s true – Zuko gives his heart freely to those he holds dear, be it his family, friends or his people. “Think of that next time, and remember that I love you, even if I’m not physically with you.”

Zuko’s arms come up around him, and he buries his head in the crook of Iroh’s neck like he’s fourteen and in need of a kind word, like he hasn’t grown to be a head taller than his uncle and things haven’t changed at all. Perhaps they haven’t, in some ways.

“Love you too, Uncle,” Zuko mutters, and for a while, all is right in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for Zuko's armour is inspired by a scene from the fic [Don't Fit My Soul Anymore](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22220971).
> 
> There are a few references made to the comics, but all you need to know is that a) Ikem was Ursa's fiance before she was pressured to marry Ozai, and b) there were issues surrounding mixed families in the Fire Nation colonies (in the Earth Kingdom) and Zuko directly visited the oldest one to try and fix them. How and why doesn't matter because I'm not too fond of the comics' storylines and the way they dealt with them.
> 
> Here's my version of how things ran down after Ursa vanished from the palace:
> 
> Ursa made a pact with Ozai to kill Azulon and therefore spare Zuko, and when Ozai took the throne, banished her on account of treason. From the capital, she escaped to the colonies, specifically Yu Dao, where she found Ikem and they both blended in with the rest of the Fire Nation occupants there.  
> She only heard some bits about Zuko's banishment and the Avatar, but when he personally visited the city to negotiate the terms of what to do with the colonies, saw him when he toured the place and were reunited. She married Ikem and returned to the palace to live with him and Zuko while slowly healing from all of the abuse.
> 
> Also, Zuko decidedly does *not* declare war on the Earth Kingdom again - I seriously don't know why The Promise comics thought that choice was in character, so let's scrap that and assume he just negotiated the terms with representatives from each of the colonies and the Earth King (Bumi or Kuei? who can tell) like one would expect from his character arc.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the story!


End file.
